32 2 The PytcJiley Hunt, Past and Present, 



-—vegetable dwarfs — grow between big boulders, which 

 afford shelter to pigmy figures of weird and strange 

 appearance. These are supposed to represent the 

 '^ Gnomes '^ or " Little Men ^' that haunt the dark regions 

 of the Black and other German forests, and give a quaint- 

 ness and originality to the design which baffle description. 

 But by the Amateur of Books, as well as by the Lover 

 of FloicerSy. a feast of good things may be had at Lamport 

 Hall — a feast such as is only to be met with in a few 

 others of the stately homes of England. 



These literary treasures began to be accumulated, about 

 the middle of the sixteenth Century, by John — fourth 

 son of Eu&EBY IsHAM of Pytchley — who founded the 

 Lamport branch of the family. Having married a 

 daughter of Nicholas Barker — one of the members of 

 the great and opulent family of that name,^ Printers to 

 Queen Elizabeth — his descendants were thrown much 

 into the literary society of the capital; and it is not 

 improbable that to his son Thomas, and his grandson John, 

 knighted by James the First, Lamport is indebted for the 

 many rare and valuable volumes to be found upon the 

 shelves of its library. 



These may have been removed from town to the country 

 for greater security from fire and from ill-usage 

 during the Civil Wars — a period during which many a 

 literary treasure was irretrievably lost. In the time of 

 George I. Sir Justinian Isham, fifth Baronet, made 

 great additions to the collection of books and altered the 

 house to its present form. When the books became too 

 numerous for the Library, the less valuable ones were 

 removed to a garret, which for many years was kept 

 carefully locked up, no one begin allowed to enter it 



